KUMAMOTO, Japan (Bernama-Kyodo): A sightseeing helicopter went missing Tuesday near a volcanic crater on Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan, with wreckage later found in the area, Kyodo News reported according to local firefighters and other sources.
Two passengers, a man and a woman from Taiwan, and the 64-year-old Japanese pilot were aboard the helicopter, which departed at 10.52am from a zoo in Aso.
Contact was lost about 10 minutes later, according to the helicopter operator, Takumi Enterprise, in Okayama, western Japan.
The missing chopper, a US-made Robinson R44, was on a 10-minute tour. The whereabouts of the three remain unknown.
The local government has reached out to a Taiwanese organisation in Fukuoka, given that there is information that the two passengers were travellers.
The helicopter was on its third sightseeing flight of the day when it went missing, and no abnormalities had been reported during the first two flights, the operator said. The pilot had more than 40 years of experience, it said.
The zoo, Aso Cuddly Dominion, offers panoramic helicopter rides over the area, which is famed for its volcanic landscapes.
A heavily damaged object resembling the body of a helicopter was found shortly after 4pm on a slope inside the crater of Mt. Nakadake, one of the five peaks that make up Mt. Aso, firefighters said.
Conditions over the area on Tuesday morning were cloudy, making it difficult to see Mt. Nakadake clearly, according to the nearby Aso Volcano Museum.
A man in his 60s in charge of monitoring the no-entry area near the crater said, "I heard something go boom at around 11am, but could not see what happened because it was foggy."
In May 2024, a sightseeing helicopter from the same zoo made an emergency landing on a mountain in Aso, injuring three people aboard. The operator was Takumi Enterprise.- Bernama-Kyodo
